Volume 110, Issue 1

The cross sections of the reactions 70 Zn(n,2n) 69m Zn, 74 Ge(n, α ) 71m Zn and 90 Zr(n,2n) 89m,g Zr in the energy range of 13.82–14.71 MeV were measured by the activation technique in combination with HPGe detector γ -ray spectroscopy. The measured results were compared with other experimental data and with the data given in the library TENDL-2019. A nuclear model calculation based on the code TALYS-1.8 was also performed after adjustment of an input parameter for the spin distribution of level density. The results of this work strengthen the database and could be useful in further evaluation of the data.

Two plutonium oxides were prepared as unique reference materials for measurement of actinide elements present as trace constituents. Each reference material unit is approximately 200 mg of PuO 2 powder in a quartz glass bottle. Characterized attributes of the oxides included mass fractions of plutonium, americium, neptunium, and uranium. Isotope-amount ratios were also determined for plutonium and uranium, but neptunium and americium were observed to be monoisotopic 237 Np and 241 Am. Measurements for characterization and verification of the attributes show that plutonium and trace actinides are homogeneous with the exception of limited heterogeneity for uranium, primarily observed for the 238 U isotope. Model purification ages calculated from measured americium and uranium attribute values are consistent with material histories and indicate that these impurities are predominantly due to the decay of plutonium isotopes.

Wood fibers, bamboo fibers and rice husk were applied to the adsorption of uranium from aqueous solution to understand the uranium adsorption behavior and mechanism by these natural sorbents. The effects of time, adsorbent particle size, pH, adsorbent dosage, temperature and initial concentration were studied using batch technique. The adsorption mechanism was discussed by isothermal adsorption models, adsorption kinetic models. The results suggested that the three biomass adsorbents showed great efficiency of adsorption for uranium. The adsorption capacity of biosorbents of comparatively small particle size and large dosage is quite high. Uranium adsorption achieved a maximum adsorption amount at around pH 3 for wood fibers and bamboo fibers, and around pH 5 for rice husk. All isotherms fitted well to the Langmuir Freundlich and D-R equation, indicating that the adsorption process is favorable and dominated by ion exchange. Rice husk had a highest adsorption capacity, followed by bamboo fibers, while wood fibers had little uranium adsorption under the studied conditions, and the adsorption capacity was 12.22, 11.27 and 11.04 mg/g, respectively. The equilibrium data was well represented by the pseudo-second-order kinetics, indicating that the adsorption rate was controlled by chemical adsorption. Ion exchange was the main adsorption mechanism, and the exchange ions were mainly Na + and K + .

The current study presents a simple and scalable method for the synthesis of (aminomethyl)phosphonic acid-functionalized graphene oxide (AMPA-GO) adsorbent. The chemical structure of the new material was disclosed by different instrumental analyses (e.g. FTIR, Raman, XPS, AFM, TEM, XRD, CHN, and UV), and two pertinent mechanisms namely nucleophilic substitution and condensation were suggested for its formation. Adsorption experiments revealed that both AMPA-GO and plain GO have a high affinity toward Th(IV) ions, but the AMPA-GO is superior in terms of adsorption capacity, rate of adsorption, selectivity, pH effect, etc. Indeed, the AMPA-GO can uptake Th(IV) nearly instantaneously, and coexisting Na + ions have no effect on its adsorption. Thanks to Langmuir isotherm, the maximum adsorption capacities of the GO and AMPA-GO were obtained 151.06 and 178.67 mg g −1 , respectively. Interestingly, GO and AMPA-GO both showed a higher preference for thorium over uranium so that the average “ K d (Th)/ K d (U)” for them was 52 and 44, respectively. This data suggests that chromatographic separation of thorium and uranium is feasible by these adsorbents.

Response Surface Method (RSM) is one of the most popular and powerful tools for experimental design and optimization. This paper first reviewed the research progress of RSM in the separation and recovery of various radioactive materials, and verified the application of RSM in adsorption isotherm analysis and thermodynamic calculation. The main advantage of RSM in radioactive material separation is the reduction in the number of experiments required, resulting in considerably less radioactive material consumption, secondary waste generation, workload and radiation dose, which is valuable for the research of radioactive material separation.

This work focuses on tracking peptic ulcer localized in mice. The formation of a [ 99m Tc]dithiocarbamate of famotidine complex at optimum conditions of reaction temperature (37 °C), reaction time (30 min), pH of the reaction mixture (5), amount of substrate (100 µg), amount of reducing agent (tin (II) content, 50 µg), was achieved using radioactive Tc- 99m (250–400 MBq), with labelling yield of 98% and high radiochemical purity. The in-vitro stability of [ 99m Tc]dithiocarbamate of famotidine complex was shown to be high in rat serum for up to 8 h. Normal and ulcerated mice were used in biodistribution studies. Famotidine works by blocking histamine-2-receptor antagonists (H 2 RAs). The high absorption of [ 99m Tc]dithiocarbamate of famotidine complex in stomach in amount of 27.15% injected dose/g organ (ID/g) observed in ulcerated mice for up to 24 h demonstrated its usefulness as a novel radiotracer for stomach imaging.